So you’ve found a doll on amazon, ebay, wish or aliexpress and you’re wondering is this a factory reject, a fakie/knockoff or straight up stolen by scanning an art doll that was lovingly sculpted by an artist, and making copies stealing sales from the original artist?
Let’s have a look at the doll, it’s name, it’s surroundings:
- Neck marks: Mattel, MGAe, Jakks pacific, Moose, Disney. Eoki, Baboli and Kurhn are chinese brands.
- Head and body marks starting with YG are legitimate Xinyi, as are ornate hearts: the mark of YeLuoli, Anlily usually has the name engraved in the underwear. Liccas have the sculpt ID engraved just above the hairline.
- Name of the doll in the advert: DBS, Ucanaan, Doris, Killig, Mmgirl, Dream Fairy or the acronym BJD when the doll is not made of resin = bad news: these folks steal art dolls, scan bits and pieces and put out their own cheaply made frankensteined vinyl and abs recasts. The eyes and wig may be superglued in, the joints floppy or unmovable, parts misaligned, paint flawed.
- Titled Ob11 or obitsu but doesn’t come in a box with the brand name Obitsu on it? It’s usually a vinyl art doll copy on a fake obitsu body (they fall apart if you breathe wrong).
- Look at the other dolls in the store: are they misleading their buyers by selling non resin dolls as BJD?
- Particular face, full of expression? Check luladoll.cn, it could be a vinyl art doll knockoff.
- There are no legitimate BJD on aliexpress or amazon. There are a few brands such as Xinyi and Baboliy who sell vinyl and ABS dolls under the acronym “BJD”, Hujoo and Obitsu sell their dolls as just “jointed dolls” but they are not made of resin and will be quite different to customize. These are known as Hinge Jointed Dolls and are not part of BJD collecting as the materials and upkeep are different.
If you have any doubts, ask by posting links and pictures tagged BJD on social media.